I have, and use, a Presonus StudioLive 16.4.2. I have been trying to set up my laptop to record bands live, however things just are not working correctly. I am using a Dell Inspiron E1505, Presonus Capture Live Recording Software, with the StudioLive. First off, I know I should be using a Mac. I will be getting a Mac in the near future. I have all the software and drivers installed and updated. My firewire port is enabled.
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And the board is working at 100% efficiency. When I hook the board up to my laptop, my laptop doesn't recognize anything being plugged into my laptop. I have to agree that PC's don't seem to be any worse, or better than Mac's. Most of the Studios here in Nashville use Mac's cause they are COOLER ( I guess?). I've never owned a Mac, but spent plenty of time in pro and home studios using them and watched them hiccup as much as PC's. My main unit is an HP, it's about 4 years old and is running XP. I never had to make any changes or have never had any problems running Sonar with a Presonus FP10, or Motu MK828.
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I never had any driver problems or software settings needing changed or any of the nightmares so many people have. Lucky I guess? My Projects don't get crazy big (usually around 16-20 tracks with multiple plugs in some), and I've never had a single drop out or crash while recording. I usually don't even turn off my firewall, Anti Virus software, or unplug the ethernet cable. What is your operating system?
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XP or have you changed it to Vista or Win7? Nothing wrong with any of them. The onboard firewire is not going to play well with your board.
Most interfaces hate the Ricoh chip and I don't blame them. It isn't very good. Most interfaces also don't like a 4 pin firewire connection.
You do have an Express Card slot so you should purchase an Express Card firewire adapter. This will resolve that particular problem. If you have upgraded to Win7 then I have another tip or two to help out.
Also, you will need an external hard drive whether it's firewire or usb doesn't matter as long as it's 7200 rpm. If you want a Mac don't cry about it. Go buy one but make sure it is one of the Pro models or you'll be having the same problems as using the average consumer bought wintel machine. However you certainly don't a Mac to do what you want. I've used both types very successfully so don't buy into the general superiority of either one. Yeah, all firewires are not created equal.
On laptops i've used, the firewire SUCKED a big one. And even the external cards were not that good (but i bought cheap ones, maybe a more reputable one would solve this problem) anyways, the solution is not 'buy a mac'. Mac's look great and run fine, but i wouldn't call them better. I'm pretty sure people just say they are better because they want to justify the absurdly high price point of macs. (for comparison, to build the equivalent of my PC now in mac form, it would have been about 2x as much). Heres my point, I am not saying a pc and microsoft can't be used. In my experience using hp, sony, and dell computers running some sort of windows I have always had issues.
My last pc was an hp, spec-wise should have been more than capable of recording. I constantly had 'little' hiccups. And I was always told get a new sound card, firewire chip, some board, etc. I am not a computer guy.
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I feel like when time in the studio is spent trouble shooting you computer all is lost. So basically if you're using a pc make sure all your parts are compatible. Odds are they won't be out of the box. Thats why I recommended a Mac. Even an older one, maybe, to save some money.
I upgraded my computer and all my gear worked fine. I didn't have to replace any chips, boards, or cards. To the thread above, I agree Macs are 'cooler', and I'm sure thats where some of the cost is, but if you're spending hours on end at it, is that such a band thing?